Tax on parking could cost business £3.4 billion
06/02/09 | 00:01
Businesses across England could face an eye-watering £3.4 billion bill for simply using their own car parking spaces.
This monumental cost could become a reality if councils decide to apply for the controversial Workplace Parking Levy (WPL).
Nottingham City Council has already applied to slap businesses with the stealth tax and a final decision from the Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon, is imminent.
More worryingly, a Department for Transport consultation into the WPL heightens the risk of the scheme’s national roll out as it helps councils across England to apply for take up of the scheme.
The WPL will require all businesses to register workplace parking spaces, which will prove burdensome enough. However, businesses with ten spaces or more, will also suffer a financial strain because each parking space will have to be paid for. The levy will start at £185 in 2010, but will rise to £350 by 2014 (using the blueprint from Nottingham).
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has calculated that if every eligible council covered by the consultation adopted the WPL, then businesses will be left with huge costs amounting to £3.4 billion.
The BCC is calling for the Secretary of State to reject Nottingham City Council’s application and to abolish the blueprint for this stealth tax nationally.
With the economy now in recession and firms struggling with cash-flow, the tax will be detrimental for companies, towns and local economies.
Commenting on the WPL, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, said:
“If councils go ahead with this oppressive tax, companies and employees will be hit hard at a time when they least need it.
“There is a real risk that towns and cities will see firms refusing to invest and in a worst case scenario relocating elsewhere. This isn’t a risk worth taking for a scheme which will not help reduce congestion.”
The BCC has launched a petition against the WPL which it is encouraging people to sign up at: http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/nostealthtaxonparking
Ends
Media Contacts:
Fiona Cunningham
Tel: 020 7654 5812
Email: f.cunningham@britishchambers.org.uk
OR
Sam Turvey
Tel: 020 7654 5813
Email: s.turvey@britishchambers.org.uk
How the figure was calculated:
The average cost of the WPL to a business in Nottingham will be £24,000 (Total Revenue from WPL [£12m]/Number of Businesses affected [500]). Figures are taken from Nottingham City Council: www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/
The WPL is applicable to businesses with over 10 parking spaces. Using data from BERR (http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/sme/), the average cost to a business in Nottingham is multiplied by the number of businesses with 10 or more employees (142460 X £24,000).
The figure excludes businesses in London, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, with the number of businesses in these areas being deducted from the BERR statistics to calculate the figure.
The Department for Transport’s consultation ends on March 5th 2009.
356 councils in England could potentially take up WPL:
http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=21575
Join the debate at:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60282850829#/group.php?gid=60282850829
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1777796&trk=anet_ug_grppro
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is the National Voice of Local Business.
The BCC sits at the heart of a powerful nationwide network of Accredited Chambers of Commerce serving business across the UK, which employ over five million people.